Record Collector Nostalgia 2009 #1

11-19-09 Record Collector Nostalgia 2009 #1

I am always tempted to try and think about writing about music in different ways. This is the 3^rd incarnation of this blog. I started way back in 2002 with my “20^th Century Music” blog, which transformed into “The Ron Kane Files” and finally arrived at this “Music Life” blog. Some entries are artist specific, others are “playlists”, there are ‘obits’ and ‘big lists’.

It was during my “20^th Century Music” days that I discovered that people were very encouraging when I wrote about my “record collector nostalgia”, as in – “What can I remember about collecting records in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s etc”. And for whatever reason, it always seemed appropriate to me to write about record collector nostalgia as the ‘year end’ approaches. Home for the holidays, as it were.

So, for those who weren’t here the first time around the block…

I grew up in a house where there was a lot of music (and phonograph records). My dad played me “Dinner Music For Those Who Aren’t Very Hungry” by Spike Jones when I was no more than 5 years old. He had taped it off of the FM radio onto a reel-to-reel tape deck (in mono). In the early 60’s, I can remember hot summer days when we would all go down into “the den”, close the blinds, turn on the air conditioning and listen to Allan Sherman LP’s all day.

Our family all watched The Beatles land on the Ed Sullivan Show together. My brother interned at KNOB-FM (“KNOB – the Jazz Knob”), he had an LP collection separate from my parents’ records. My earliest memories are of his Stan Getz / Joao Gilberto “Jazz Samba” LP on Verve – it’s thick, shiny cover. And if my sisters were all into The Beatles, my brother liked The Rolling Stones.

My sister Marilyn got interested in Sonny & Cher. When she and my sister Susie were babysitting me (while my mom worked), they played me Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention – probably “Wowie Zowie” from “Freak Out”.

For my birthday, my parents took me to see the Harry Belafonte show at the Greek Theatre up in Los Angeles. Unless I am mistaken, the opening acts were Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and either Miriam Makeba or Nana Mouskouri. I am going to guess this was 1963? 1964?

My brother went into the US Air Force; my older sister Marilyn moved out. By the end of the 60’s, I was the only child at home. I remember all of them having gone to the June, 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival, I was too young. They all saw The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. I was too young…to do anything much but go shopping with my mother or father.

My brother showed me the magic of British-pressed LP’s in 1967 – he brought home a UK Parlophone copy of “Sgt. Peppers” – “Are your hands clean?”, he asked me.